Broncos want high-octane approach from Gase to boost offense

It was just another August day in just another NFL training camp, but former Rams coach Mike Martz, who had directed one of the most potent offenses in the league's history, The Greatest Show on Turf, stopped by Broncos practice.

And five months before the Broncos knew they would promote Adam Gase to offensive coordinator, Martz was more than than happy to offer the reason they eventually would. Asked what kind of quarterbacks coach Gase could be for a future Hall of Famer such as Peyton Manning and what kind of play caller Gase would be someday, Martz said: "Adam was just a guy I wanted to get involved as much as I could. Some people you just know and I just knew he was different, just his intensity, his passion for it. He's really smart. Not intimidated. If he doesn't know, he's going to learn. Just everything you want in a coach, and he was ahead of guys his age basically. He always has been. I have such great confidence in him and his ability to coach."

In Martz's time in the NFL, whether it was calling plays for a Super Bowl winner as he did for Dick Vermeil in St. Louis, or in Detroit or Chicago, Martz's trademark was his aggressive nature. Kurt Warner sports two league MVP awards and a Super Bowl MVP award on his résumé because of it.

That go-for-it approach is in Gase's lineage from his time with Martz in Detroit and San Francisco. So, too, are the defensive philosophies of Nick Saban and Dean Pees, his first bosses in coaching, and his father-in-law, Saints defensive coordinator Joe Vitt.

In the end, the Broncos saw in the 34-year-old what so many others in the league have seen: a tireless worker who steadily has climbed the coaching ladder from the time he graduated high school to the point where, Wednesday, he could make his case to John Elway and John Fox to be a Super Bowl hopeful's next offensive coordinator.

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Speed has have tipped the scales. The Patriots decimated defenses as the league's highest-scoring offense this season, moving the team's no-huddle at warp speed. Former Oregon coach Chip Kelly will bring the college game's fastest fast-break offense to Philadelphia. Gase channeled a little Mad Mike, and told the Broncos what they wanted to hear.

"We're looking to play as fast as possible and put Peyton Manning in a position to play as fast as he can play," Gase said on a conference call Thursday. Gase also promised to play "pedal to the metal," a phrase that could earn the Broncos some goodwill in a city still smarting from what it considers conservative play calling in the playoff loss to the Ravens on Saturday.

And speed is next frontier for NFL offenses. Looking at the Patriots' offense, former Buccaneers and Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer, now an ESPN analyst, said Thursday: "They're pioneering something in the NFL. And that's super fast. People played fast before. Nobody's ever played super fast. And they're showing the advantage you can have when you can play super fast, because of substitution issues for the defense, personnel matchups."

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels brought Gase to Denver on McDaniels' first Broncos staff in 2009 as a wide receivers coach. Gase showed his ability to manage even the toughest locker room cases — Brandon Marshall and Brandon Lloyd — while drawing praise in his work with both Tim Tebow and Manning over the past two years.

Now a guy who has taken his time to do the little things to get this far will try to take the Broncos' no-huddle offense and put it in the league's fast lane.

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